From the #Banksy of the mighty Mississip’…

When I first started writing my instagram caption today I thought myself so clever. Then I told my good idea to Joe, who sat stone faced and asked what I was talking about. For those of you not on Instagram, it went something like this: “I’m back on the #banksy of the mighty Mississip’ taking in some graffiti…” Once I explained my pun he still sat stone faced. So, I instagram-ed my pun anyway and now am here to tell you about Banksy:

Banksy is a pseudonymous, secretive street artist from Bristol, England. And probably one of- if not the most – famous graffiti artists of our time. He’s been graffiti’ing (a word? not sure) since the early 1990’s. First free hand, typical graffiti, that eventually morphed into stenciled graffiti, the style he is most recognized for today. But to say he is a street artist and to leave it at that is not giving Bansky the credit he is due- his work is very satirical, often anti-establishment and anti-war. His work sometimes feels as much prankster as artist, but always gets a point across. He’s painted entire elephants, built huge parody amusement parks, and snuck into NYC museums to hang his own humorous artwork on the walls. While his pieces can mainly be found on urban architecture in the UK, works have also shown up in places such as New York, Palestine, and Mali, to name a few. Certainly the mystique of Banksy lies around the fact that his identity is not really known. He operates covertly, has a group that “authenticates” his works and when he must show a photo, shields his face by wearing a paper bag or mask. His last known interview was in 2003. Want to know more? Read this or this.

Soooo now you can read my Instagram caption again and hopefully snicker. Or I guess, unfollow.